*****040: I assure you, she can, and she has

Kell set the water cup on Maille's night stand and turned off the night lamp. He stood for a second and looked down at her in the light from the hall. She was pale, but not unusually so. Her braids he'd taken out and laid her hair strewn artfully across the pillow. He smoothed the sheet over her and then turned.

Richard Mann was in the hallway, about to come through the door. "She's asleep again." Kell told him and stepped through the door.

"Let's go upstairs." Richard said. "We can hear her from the dining room if she calls out."

Kell followed Richard up the stairs and took a seat closest to the stairs. Tracy and Richard sat at the table, donuts and milk adorned the white lace cloth. Kell put his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"Sorry for what? Were you responsible for her leaving here?" Richard asked politely, without a hint of accusation.

"She's been doing a lot of soul-searching since she met me." Kell said, not wanting to divulge too much of Maille's confidence, but wanting to give this nervous father a better impression of what was going on and why Maille had run.

"Why did she leave here tonight?"

"She was running away." Kell admitted.

"And you encouraged her?" Tracy voiced hotly.

He looked into her pale blue eyes like ice and shivered. She was a beautiful woman, one of the most beautiful he'd ever seen. She was a good woman, and a great musician, but she didn't know her daughter worth beans. At least in his opinion.

"I came to get her to prevent her from running away. Better with me, than out there somewhere."

"Why did you come and get her? Why didn't you tell her to stay? To go and talk to me?" Tracy wondered.

"Mrs. Mann... if I may be so bold. What exactly did you say to her tonight that set her off?"

"I didn't say anything..." Tracy started and then flushed.

"Did you ask her if she'd been sleeping with me?" Kell's voice held no rancor.

Tracy looked annoyed. She hung her head and her eyes pleaded with Richard's. "Yes, I did."

Richard looked startled. "I hope that wasn't at the beginning of your conversation, Tracy."

Tracy sighed. "Kell, you have a pretty bad reputation, you can't blame me for being concerned."

Kell shook his head and leaned across the table on his folded arms. "I have never done anything to give anyone the impression that I would take advantage of an innocent girl." He spread his hands wide in a gesture of supplication. "It's all conjecture. All fabricated."

"You're wild ." Tracy said slowly keeping her eyes on his face.

Kell smiled softly. "Is that a crime? I'm not a bad wild. I'm... what did your daughter's call it? Eccentric? I believe that was Megan's word."

"Are you courting our daughter?" Richard asked.

Kell leaned back. The protective father image he liked. That showed true feelings.

"Courting? I saw your daughter crying in the wardrobe warehouse. She was hurt by the thoughtless words of your elder daughters. She feels unwanted, alone, and worse... like they think she's useless and unnecessary. She's given her life to them. It's a hard pill to swallow to realize you've given your life to a cause that couldn't care less about you." he sighed. "I am your daughter's friend. We have spent a little time together. I have feelings for her, yes. I think she has feelings for me. But..." he looked up at them both as they stared at him avidly, "She's so extremely sheltered she doesn't know what those feelings are. For now, I am safe."

"Not to mention you're leaving." Richard said wryly. Kell inclined his head.

"But she plans to have him come home on the weekends with Melia." Tracy informed Richard.

Richard raised his brows dubiously. "How is that safe?"

Kell shrugged. "We are easing the final days of a nine-year-old child who is dying." he revealed.

Tracy and Richard were stunned. They stared at each other and at Kell. He could picture their eyes flashing question marks at him like they were cartoon characters. He smiled.

"You may check at the Alpine Final Care Facility. It's in the phone book. You will find that Maille and I have spent a fair amount of time there in the last three days." Kell licked his lips. "I can see why she needs to get her own place. Your concern is stifling."

"We trust our daughter, Kell, it's you we have doubts about." Richard shot at him .

Kell stood up. "Do you want me to leave?"

"I want you to leave." Tracy said and then indicated for him to sit back down. "But it might not be what's best for Maille."

Kell sat down but was still and quiet, eyeing them. Richard with his distinguished salt and pepper hair, his lithe, lean and muscular body, his dark fringed blue eyes that pierced without intending to. A legend, an actor's actor, he'd been through it all. He'd like to pick this man's experiences apart. 

He glanced at Tracy, her famous magnetism was in effect. She didn't look a day over thirty, and he knew her to be well over forty. She was like the queen bee, she radiated confidence and authority. He knew them to be a tight family, but right now that tightness had a loophole.

"Maille obviously needs to find herself." Richard began, and Kell snorted. "You don't agree?"

"Maille needs to identify a few strengths and values. She's bright, she's caring. She knows who she is, she doesn't need to find herself." he snorted again. "What a cop out. Find herself. A way to get around finding some interests and friends."

Richard bent his head and pinched his nose as if counting to ten for patience. Kell watched him.

Always the actor.

"Maille plans to stay at my house while I'm away to care for my pets. Will that be a problem for you?" Kell asked.

Tracy's head shot up. "Who will care for Maille?"

"Maille will care for herself. She's got surface stitches. She will be fine."

Tracy glanced at Richard who nodded as if thinking this over. "I don't think she should stay at your home. It's like living together..."

"Not if I'm not there." Kell shook his head in irritation.

"And when you are?"

Kell shrugged. "We'll see."

"Things are progressing very fast between the two of you." Richard observed.

"I guess you've been this route before." Kell stood up again and scooted in his chair.

"Kell, I warn you...." Tracy said.

"Like you warned Ryan Patrick? Like you warned Matthew Lawrence? Like you warned Steve McQueen? Give me a break. Think what it is about me you don't trust and then warn me." Kell turned on his heel and went back down the stairs. He would have liked to walk out that door, this wasn't his house or his place to counsel these people, but Maille was here, and he couldn't leave her. He got to the bedroom door leaning against the frame and took a deep breath.

Maille hadn't moved, her eyes were closed, her breathing even. The most beautiful sound in the world.

****